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(This is an edited excerpt from an op-ed piece I just wrote for Xconomy, posted here as I think it provides some nuance on my views on regulation of genetic testing that was lacking from my post last week. Some context for new readers: a Congressional investigation into the direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing industry last…

(Cross-posted to Genomes Unzipped.) Today’s US Congress Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing into the direct-to-consumer genetic testing industry was a vicious affair. Representatives from testing companies 23andMe, Navigenics and Pathway faced a barrage of questions about the accuracy and utility of their tests, made all the worse by the fact that many of the…

I mentioned last week on Genetic Future that a reporter with the Washington Post, Rob Stein, had emailed the National Society of Genetic Counsellors to search specifically for people with negative experiences of personal genomics for an upcoming article on the industry. At the time I called for personal genomics customers with positive experiences to…

Every issue of Nature Genetics is packed full of them, and they’re the basis for the risk predictions offered by every personal genomics company – but how do you make sense of a genome-wide association study? How can you tell the difference between results you can trust and those you should treat with caution? Over…

The first ever post on the new group blog I announced yesterday, Genomes Unzipped, is now live: it’s Luke Jostins of Genetic Inference talking about the importance of sequencing for the future of personal genomics. Here’s a taste: There is a particular type of variation that genotype chips can never get at, the type of…

I’m pleased to announce the beta launch of a new group blog on personal genomics, Genomes Unzipped. I’ve been working with a group of scientific colleagues and fellow bloggers on this project for quite a while now. Some of the group members will be familiar to regular readers: Dan Vorhaus from Genomics Law Report, Luke…

I’ve just been forwarded an email that was originally sent to the National Society of Genetic Counsellors email list on behalf of a reporter with the Washington Post: Dear NSGC Members, Washington Post reporter Rob Stein has interviewed NSGC President Liz Kearney on the subject of regulation of genetic testing. Rob would also like to…

As an addendum to my previous post on the controversial “longevity genes” study, you should go and check this out. It’s a post on the blog of personal genomics company 23andMe, and it’s a pretty impressive piece of scientific dissection of the longevity GWAS paper – in addition to detailing a variety of methodological problems with…

When an article was published in Science last week reporting that DNA samples from exceptionally long-lived individuals differed detectably from those of normal individuals, it got plenty of positive attention from the mainstream media. However, the buzz from experts was rapid and telling: my colleagues in the statistical genetics community weren’t excited about the results, but…

An excerpt from an article I co-wrote for Xconomy with Genomics Law Report‘s Dan Vorhaus – link to the full article below. Are you ready for consumer genetics? Is your government? Recent announcements of federal investigations into the budding direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing industry suggest that authorities are preparing to increase regulation of companies offering…